Helen looks much younger in Season 1 with her hair. Wheee mention of Smilodon by nick after Helen's warning - wouldn't that mention probably coincide with the likely coming through of the cub raised and revealed in S2?

The Abby, Connor and Stephen stuff in this episode is good, mix of funny and angst. Ah Stephen's seen both of them in their underwear. Love the "nice legs" comment. Was nice to see Tom and Duncan again.

I want to know how they did some of the flying through air towards anomaly shots in the kitchen - some look plain like someone threw from offscreen but a few don't...

OMG I'd forgotten how much I loved the dodos! So cute bobbing about. Hee :D

Hmm Connor has a compass and it looks metal but it doesn't get pulled through - ooh actually he explain that a few seconds later with the anomaly weakening. Strange how no one sees the dead dodo as violent before it collapses - I know it was locked in a room for a while but presumalby it was in their with Nick too whilst he was discussing the situation earlier and playing a little with them and none showed any signs of odd behaviour.

Back to Tom and Duncan's conspiracy get rich quick scheme...That'd be "We'll be able to buy a 100 MP3 players" unless they meant all their MP3's are on one player only and not backedup, which would be stupid and besides you'd want a more impressive number if that was meant as 100 MP3's is a bit meh. And no you can't sell dodo sick on ebay - they have regulations against bodily fluids and parts.

How could they tell that much detail about the lifecycle of the parasite from an autopsy of a dead dodo with the

Soon to be crispy dodo with the way it's chopping at the light bulb. Ah it's proto-Goauld parasite rolls eyes. Possessed people always have to have glowy eyes etc, but I admit blue is a nice change.

Haha, they're scared of horror films and a dead dodo.

Poor Tom. Claudia's comment on the infection potential so sounds like a zombie movie sort of scenario. Hmm, they know his mobile number - surprised they didn't try treacking him via it as films tend to. Ah he didn't stay on the phone long enough or something and great, he can track Connor - would've thouht Duncan might've mentioned the keyring and/or removed it though maybe he's too distracted by concern for his friend.

Nick's pretty trusting of Helen still, though that's Stephen's job more, with Stephen just doing as she instructed back in the kitchen.

Why is Abby there - ah more dod post mortems. You'd think they'd have a presence there in case there was an outbreak.

Lol to the doesn't get in trouble and WI get grouped in same line with CIA. Now the tracker comes up!

Of course the conspiracy theorist doesn't believe the truth. Wonder if the encounter with Tom gave Abby nightmares, he's getting pretty freaky by that point. Oh Abby, surely there's a codeword for when in trouble or do they not plan for anything remotely like this. Ah she does have a plan doesn't she? Oooh it's not the trap him in the freezer like I thought she might've tried. Hmm he shouts Abby but have they ever been introduced or did she tell him it to try to personalise herself with the crazy boy.

Aw, Connor's appealing to fight the darkside and his probably overtrust in Tom not hurting him. Nice to see thee's Ryan being sensible, though we got this scene for sentimentality with bonus Connor/Nick speach and hug.

With this coinciding with Conner moving into Abby's flat, why has there not been hurt/comfort fic for this!? Want some. :D This episode also had a lot of potential for Nick/Helen, Helen/Stephen and Nick/Claudia UST stuffs, can especially feel the Nick/Claudia tension. Loved Lester in this episode, they should give him more to do - him verus Helen is just plain fun.

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Gotta admit this is one of my favourite episodes and, despite the parasite having to be waaaay too big to satisfy dim TV viewers, the biology isn't too bad!

>"wouldn't that mention probably coincide with the likely coming through of the cub raised and revealed in S2?"<

I doubt it. No idea how long it takes a Smilodont to grow from cub to mature adult but it must have been more than the six months max S1 and S2 take place over. I'd suggest the cub musthave come through several years back as a minimum.

Well, according to the wiki timeline for the events it's over 9 months between her comment and the discovery of the one in S2 (March 3rd to January 26th). Of course that still may not be long enough to account for a cub growing up but it was only a guess- I've no clue how long big cats take to grow up.

Looking up about cheetahs "Females reach maturity within twenty to twenty-four months, and males around twelve months (although they do not usually mate until at least three years old)," so it's perhaps not so impossible.

Hmmmm... what's the source for the wiki timeline? Nine months seems a little long to me but even so... modern day lions take about three years to come to sexual maturity, tigers also three years, cheetahs, as you say, a bit less at two years (although a male cheetah would not be fully grown merely theoretically capable of intercourse which is a bit like calling an eleven year old boy sexually mature...)the Smilodont was a fair bit larger than a modern lion so probably lived a bit longer (there's a relationship between body size and lifespan) and therefore would likely mature a little later.

Lions live from about twelve to sixteen years (wild, about twenty five in captivity), tigers: fifteen to twenty years, cheetahs and jaguars: twelve to fourteen.

The Smilodont depicted did not appear to be a juvenile. Assuming a lifespan say 5% longer than a lion's that gives us a sexual maturity age of nearly five years and a life span of fourteen to eighteen years so the anomaly that popped him up must have been at least four years earlier (assuming he appeared within the first year of life given that Valerie referred to him as a cub).

I suppose, theoretically, it could have been as long as seventeen years ago but I doubt Valerie could have hidden him for so long. OTOH she was so attached to him that I think she must have cared for him for quite a length of time (at least a couple of years IMO)

My theory is that the Smilodont had just reached sexual maturity (hence my banging on about it before) and this is why Valerie couldn't control him effectively anymore. Full sexual maturity, especially in male animals, usually causes a natural desire for independence from Mum or surrogate-mum. Usually Mum will have kicked junior out of the nest/den/territory by that point. Smilodont needed to assert himself a bit pointedly. Valerie could really have done with a bit of intelligent reading about animal behaviour...

I'm not sure to be honest - I don't recall them mentioning dates on the episods unless I wasn't paying close enough attention. First ep maybe from the newspaper with the creature sighting? I have'nt yet got the DVD's so no clue if it could've been a mix of special feature and in ep references.

I'm usually interested in timelines for shows but hadn't paid attention in Primeval - so a thing for me to do when rewatching them again. :D

Fair point about the big cats - it does sound much less likely given what you posted, though there's a bit of creative license with animals from so far in the past I'd say because it's all estimates. ;) Like your explanation for Valerie's sudden issues with control though.

Apart from Abby referring to one month having passed since Connor moving in (ep 1-05) I don't think there are any concrete dates or references to time passing in the series (which is one of the reasons I'm suspicious of the wiki timeline).

My reaction is a gut one based on the progresion of the relationships between the characters and their abilities to deal with the situations they encounter. Nine months - well, I suppose... I thought more like five or six months.

Of course, the biggest, nastiest bug in this episode is that knife of Helen's! She's under Special Forces guard and she just has this whopping great hunting knife to give to Stephen! Didn't anyone bother to search her?